Review of IDW Beast Wars #7

william-james88 wrote:I give this issue the same score

Sabrblade wrote: The main reason Animated ended when it did was because Hasbro wanted to leave Cartoon Network and partner with Discovery to create the Hub Network, and wanted to start over and make a new TF cartoon

o.supreme wrote:The art is definitely an improvement on what was seen in the first few issues, not enough to get me to start reading however.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:Honestly, in good conscience I couldn't recommend this book. Between this and 2.0, I don't think IDW are doing justice to the franchise of late. Clearly money is a factor and the talent is either inexperienced and/or cheap.

Personally, as far as respecting licensed IP. I would suggest Transformers being given to Dark Horse. They did fantastic stuff with Star Wars, Conan, Hellboy etc (before the former two were poached by Disney). I think they could do much the same for the bots of Cybertron.

primalxconvoy wrote:I got the impression that this BW series was aimed squarely at the younger members of the TF community (those that weren't around when the show first aired).

For me, I wish they had retold, with whatever caveats were needed, the BW2 and Neo stories, and tied both the story and art style into the excellent DW/IDW Beast Wars comics that came out before this new series.

o.supreme wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:I got the impression that this BW series was aimed squarely at the younger members of the TF community (those that weren't around when the show first aired).

For me, I wish they had retold, with whatever caveats were needed, the BW2 and Neo stories, and tied both the story and art style into the excellent DW/IDW Beast Wars comics that came out before this new series.

As far as I am aware, the only BW story in DW was in the 20th anniversary one-shot that had multiple stories from different continuities. There was a fan vote for next regular series (BW vs RiD), in which BW won, but the series never materialized.

I did enjoy IDW Gathering/Ascending as well. I sold the individual books, but kept the MTMTE/Universe styled profile books.

"The story for this series was a significant revamp of the scripts which Furman previously submitted to Dreamwave Productions for what was to be titled Shell Game. Selected artwork that Figueroa submitted for these original scripts was reused in the rewritten issues. Originally the plot was to tie into "Ain't No Rat". "

o.supreme wrote:"significant Revamp" as in not the same, as it would have been if it had been Published by DW.

primalxconvoy wrote:I got the impression that this BW series was aimed squarely at the younger members of the TF community (those that weren't around when the show first aired).

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:I got the impression that this BW series was aimed squarely at the younger members of the TF community (those that weren't around when the show first aired).

To be fair, that is exactly the demographic I hear from reading the letters page. I don't think any of these letters reflect someone with long standing appreciation for what Beast Wars is and was, in the 90's.

Anyway, issue seven. A marked improvement, art-wise obviously. The interpersonal dialogue is still off and lacklustre. Concerning the Predacons in particular, I'm not getting any personality at all from their exchanges. Scorponok was awful in the show. But at least he stood out. Terrorsaur has a little characterisation. But it is just filling the trope of "bully". Honestly, Scold just needs to be written out. In a sufficiently apt way to her ham-fisted focus...



The second improvement to this is the story itself. We have a new origin story for Blackarachnia. I'll overlook how Burnham clearly doesn't understand how Stasis Pods actually work (stuff like this makes him sound as much a fan of Beast Wars as Kevin Smith is of He-Man). For the first time in seven issues, I am interested to see where this goes though. Although it does speak volumes that the only character I'm suddenly interested in, in this book, is BA. A character I don't actually like. 6.5/10

primalxconvoy wrote:It's odd that they shingle have gone after the younger demographic, when, fun what I recall, younger readers are less likely to buy comics these days, as opposed to older demographics.

primalxconvoy wrote:As for Kevin Smith, however, I disagree. I think the recent 1st half of his new MOTU mini-series was great and showed an eye for the details and lore already established in the expanded MOTU world, but each to their own.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

primalxconvoy wrote:It's odd that they shingle have gone after the younger demographic, when, fun what I recall, younger readers are less likely to buy comics these days, as opposed to older demographics.

Again, all the more puzzling as this is supposed to be made as per the celebration of the 25th anniversary. Yet it isn't. The way this plays out is in a similar vein to when those writing for Beast Machines were told not to adhere to Beast Wars characterisation. You can't sell something as a sequel or homage, if you have no intention of putting the effort in.

primalxconvoy wrote:As for Kevin Smith, however, I disagree. I think the recent 1st half of his new MOTU mini-series was great and showed an eye for the details and lore already established in the expanded MOTU world, but each to their own.

The problem there, is that isn't what it was sold as. It was sold as a continuation of Filmation. Which it isn't. If someone had said this was a follow up to the 200X series, that would have been a more honest appraisal. Personally, I have no horse in the race either way. My He-Man was New Adventures. Didn't care for Filmation in comparison. To me, aesthetically, it was the difference between Spider-Man TAS and the 60's cartoon.

(W) Erik Burnham (A) Winston Chan (CA) Andrew Griffith
"Pod," part two! Blackarachnia has made her way to the Maximal ship, the Axalon, and encountered her first Maximal, Cheetor. Now she's gone missing again and it's up to the whole crew to find the mysteriously disappearing spider... before she finds them!